The Caribbean in a New Cold War (Jan. 21, 2022)

If a new multidimensional Cold War is brewing in the world, "it could test Caribbean leadership and the response of civil society to the limits, as remaining nonaligned, which in the past has offered a way out of overtly taking sides, this time may be harder to achieve," writes David Jessop in the Jamaica Gleaner. "For this reason, it may be the moment for the Caribbean to consider how global confrontation might offer it leverage to obtain new, well-financed, rapidly delivered support from one or another global actor."

Exclusive focus on Chinese motivations for engaging Latin America and the Caribbean discounts the agency and influence regional leaders exhibit, particularly in crisis situations, argue Wazim Mowla & Pepe Zhang in the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs. "During the COVID-19 pandemic, LAC leaders leveraged their asymmetrical relationships with China and other global actors to shape international discussions on inequitable vaccine access or to procure development assistance."

For example, critics of Barbados' recent transition into a republic "have given undue emphasis to the role of China, demonising Beijing while simultaneously belittling Barbados’s agency – in other words, an ugly cocktail of fearmongering and geopolitical mansplaining," argues Sebastian Shehadi in Investment Monitor.

Barbados PM Mia Mottley, who won a landslide second term this week, is just one of a raft of strong women across the Caribbean and South America tackling society’s most pressing issues, argues Mandeep Rai in the Guardian. She "has changed the face of democracy in the country. ... It is difficult to overstate what her commitment to collaboration across the region and internationally has done for Barbados ... Countries like Barbados are often not the protagonist, yet Mottley put issues such as the climate crisis and international development to the front on the world stage.

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Puerto Rico restructures debt

Puerto Rico’s nearly five-year bankruptcy battle is ending after a federal judge signed a plan this week that slashes the U.S. territory’s public debt load as part of a restructuring and allows the government to start repaying creditors, reports the Associated Press. 

The plan marks the largest municipal debt restructuring in U.S. history and was approved following grueling bargaining efforts, heated hearings and multiple delays. Since Puerto Rico entered bankruptcy, its economic crisis has only been further deepened by Hurricanes Irma and Maria, a series of earthquakes and the coronavirus pandemic, notes the New York Times.

The restructuring plan will reduce the largest portion of the Puerto Rico government’s debt — some $33 billion — by about 80 percent, to $7.4 billion. The deal will also save the government more than $50 billion in debt payments. But critics worry that Puerto Rico will not have enough money in its general fund to make even the reduced debt payments over the long run, eventually forcing more painful economic cuts.

Nor is the plan "a cure-all for what snared the commonwealth in an economic tailspin in the first place. A lot of hard work still remains to put the island on a sustainable fiscal path," writes Brian Chappatta in Bloomberg.

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Vaccine Hesitancy in the Caribbean

Limited take up of Covid-19 vaccines has been an ongoing issue hampering the response to the pandemic
across the Eastern Caribbean subregion as elsewhere -- a new UNICEF survey examines vaccine hesitancy in Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago. 

"The study provides insight into what might change minds," said U.N. Resident Coordinator for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Didier Trebucq. "51 per cent cite the need for more medical and scientific information. Over 40 per cent want to know more about side effects and efficacy. 30 per cent want information on the impact of the vaccine on sexual health and their ability to have children. These are all rich veins to explore.” The research also suggests that vaccine promotion interventions need to be tailored to their audience. (iWitness News)

Democratic Governance

• Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley won a second term in elections this week, in which her Barbados Labour party won all 30 seats, up from 29 in 2018. She gained international fame last year with an incendiary speech at COP26, urging leaders to stand up to the challenge of climate change. She also oversaw Barbados' transition to a full republic last year. (Guardian)
  
  
• The situation in Haiti has reached a crisis point, as gang violence has surged across the country in the wake of President Jovenel Moïse's assassination last July. International observers are raising concerns that February 7 – the date Moïse's term would expire – could bring more violence and further complicate the country’s political transition, reports Al Jazeera.
• Haitian Judge Garry Orelien, who is overseeing the inquiry into Moïse’s July assassination is being removed from the case after failing to meet a legal deadline on bringing formal charges. The move comes amid doubts about Haiti’s ability — or even its desire — to prosecute those responsible for the brazen crime, according to the Miami Herald.

Migration

• The Government of the Dominican Republic said it will buy the private lands located along the border with Haiti in order to advance a border wall project aimed at limiting migration from the neighboring country, reports Dominican Today.
  
  
• The Government of the Dominican Republic and 30 political parties called on the international community to intervene in Haiti -- marking particularly that there will never be a "Dominican solution" to the problems facing that country, reports Dominican Today.

Climate Justice and Energy

• A new study has found that, for the sixth year in a row, the world’s oceans have been hotter than they’ve ever been in recent history due to human-induced climate change -- Mongabay.
  
  
• Suriname and Guyana might be able to achieve the seemingly mutually exclusive goals of alleviating poverty with oil revenues, while respecting their commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement -- the key lies in leveraging their forests, argues Robert Looney in the World Politics Review.
  
  
• Guyana’s laboratories do not have the capability to do proper environmental tests associated with the oil and gas sector, though oil extraction has been ongoing for three years already, reports Kaieteur News.
  

Racial Justice

• Racial injustice in Cuba spills over into Cuban arts and the anti-government protests led by the islands artists, argues Juan Pedro Torriente in Hyperallergic.

Housing Rights

• Tax breaks implemented by Puerto Rico's government incentivize foreigners to move to the island are leading to gentrification in some areas, as Puerto Rican residents are pushed out of their homes by foreigners seeking to make money. (Bianca Graulau and Los Angeles Times)
  

Finance

• The Global Minimum Tax deal could open yet another door to discrimination and act as yet another vector for vulnerability of weaker states, argues Marla Durkharam in IFC Review. (Video here.)
  

Food Security

• As the pandemic persists, there is growing concern region wide about the ability of Caribbean countries to maintain reliable supplies and production of affordable, safe, and nutritious food. Leading Caribbean agriculturalist, Dr H. Arlington Chesney, discusses this and other issues with the Media Institute of the Caribbean.
  

Human Rights and Justice

• The mass trials against July 11 protesters in Cuba continued this week, despite local and international outcries, reports the Miami Herald. (See Monday's Latin America Daily Briefing.)
  
  
• The Greater Caribbean for Life “Building a Platform for Abolition: Strengthening the Anti-Death Penalty Movement in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean” has come to a close after three years of work challenging the death penalty in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
  

Education

• St. Vincent and the Grenadines will begin bonding locally trained nurses to work in the country for a number of years, announced Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves. The bonding will begin with current cohorts or nurses enrolled at the nation’s training school and comes amidst a significant number of nurses choosing to work overseas, reports iWitness News.
  

In the Diaspora

• Four Windrush generation descendants have lost their high court battle for the British scheme for victims to be widened to include them, reports the Guardian. The current rules state that descendants who arrived as adults over the age of 18 after 1988 are excluded from the Windrush scheme.
  

Culture

• The ecosystem of artists in Jamaica according to Veerle Poupeye -- Le Nouvelliste
  

Events

• 27 Jan -- Youth Climate Anxiety: Implications for Litigation -- NYU -- Register here.
  
  
• 28 Jan -- Cuba: The U.S. Embargo After Sixty Years, an event co-sponsored by the National Security Archive and the Washington Office on Latin America, hosted by WOLA's Assistant Director for Cuba, Mariakarla Nodarse, and moderated by Peter Kornbluh, the Archive’s Cuba policy specialist. Register here.
  
  
• Oxford University Caribbean Studies Network programme for this coming term: Faith Smith, Professor of English at Brandeis University, will be talking to us about modernism and 'non-soverignty' in the early twentieth-century Caribbean; the philosopher Rocío Zambrana will speak on 'Colonial Debts'; and Meleisa Ono-George (Queen's College, Oxford) will talk to us about her current work on Afro-Caribbean women in late c.18^th and c.19^th Britain. All events will be on Zoom, sign up here.
  

Opportunities

• The recently established Legal Empowerment Fund will consider grant proposals from grassroots organizations doing legal empowerment work for up to 24 months of general support (core funding).  This is a global call and Caribbean actors are eligible to apply.  More information see here.  Deadline: 18 February.

  
  

• War on Want is holding a 3-day workshop series on Post-Extractive Futures,taking place between February 1-3.  Register here.

  
  

• Prince Claus Seed Awards: Annually recognising 100 emerging artists and cultural practitioners - including from the Caribbean - the Award creates space for experimentation and development of new perspectives on societal challenges.
  
  

• Island Innovation asks: Have you ever asked yourself how you could contribute more to the sustainable development of your island? Being an Island Ambassador provides you with the opportunity to bring members of your community together and create positive, tangible changes. For more information, see here.
  

We welcome comments and critiques on the Just Caribbean Updates. You can see the Updates on our website, as well as receive it directly through the mailing list. Thank you for reading.

Guyana's gov't passes new Natural Resources Fund act (Jan. 13, 2022)

Guyana’s parliament approved local content rules for oil producers and a sovereign wealth fund to oversee the country's oil earnings, on Dec. 30, 2021. The bills are part of updates to the country's regulatory framework for oil exploration and production. The local content bill requires that energy projects use local businesses for certain jobs, including environmental studies and metal fabrication. Changes to the Act Governing the Natural Resources Fund (NRF) in Guyana, will permit the government to use funding from the country's oil payments for the new financial year and its associated budget. (Reuters, Jamaica Observer)

The Natural Resources Fund assigns oversight of oil revenue to parliament instead of the finance ministry. Proceeds could be used for development and “essential projects that are directly related to ameliorating the effect of a major natural disaster,” according to the bill.

The governing PPP/C used its one-seat majority to pass the bill, despite opposition questions about its legality in a raucous session, reports Kaieteur News. Guyana’s President Mohamed Irfaan Ali has since signed the National Resources Fund into law. (News Americas)

But critics say the government passed the NRF Act without consultation with the parliamentary opposition or other civil society stakeholders. Kaieteur News posits that a principal concern are "loopholes that could give way to massive corruption, borrowing frenzies, as well as spending sprees."

Local democratic watchdog Article 13 has warned that the ‘undue haste’ opens the door for misuse of the oil funds. (Kaieteur News)

Climate Justice and Energy

• Jamaica's government is a 51% shareholder of Noranda, the applicant for a mining lease and environmental permit for bauxite mining in the contested area of Cockpit Country. That the regulator is also the Jamaican government ·is an irreconcilable conflict of interest," argues environmental activist and Founder of the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) Diana McCaulay. (Petchary's Blog, see last week's Just Caribbean Updates on the Cockpit Country project.)
  
  
• The Cuban approach to climate adaptation and mitigation offers an alternative to the globally dominant paradigms based on the private sector or public-private partnerships, according to Jacobin. Cuba's Tarea Vida policy has increasing relevance to tourism-dependent Caribbean small island developing states, and others in the Global South.

Food Security

• Underpinning much of Haiti's troubles is environmental injustice and food insecurity, with 4.4 million people (of a population of nearly 11 million) at risk of hunger, reports the Guardian. Haiti's grassroots Papaye Peasant Movement (MPP) works to tackle deforestation and the climate crisis in Haiti’s poorest regions by working with subsistence farmers.

Decolonization

• A history professorship named after Cecil Rhodes has been axed by a Kings University London following a row over its imperial heritage and links to racism and slavery. The current post holder, Guyanese Richard Drayton was a key voice in lobbying for the move, reports the Daily Mail.
  
  
• Coolitude, a neologism advanced by Mauritian cultural theorist Khaleel Torabully, has grown into an intellectual framework over three decades that underpins a number of studies on the global Indian indenture experience. It has paved the way for an increasing body of literature that captures the experience of Indian labourers who were taken across the kala pani from ancestral India in the 1800s to diasporic colonial plantations, writes Baytoram Ramharack in Stabroek News.
  

Public Security

• Two Haitian journalists were killed by gang members while reporting in a conflictive area south of Port-au-Prince, last Thursday. A third journalist who was part of the group survived. Laboule 12, where the journalists were killed, has for months been the site of violent gang clashes and is the only way by road to reach the southern region of the country, which has been cut off since June by gang violence at the southern entrance of Port-au-Prince, reports the Miami Herald.

Culture

• The Tate Britain’s show “Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art, 1950s — Now” charts 70 years of Caribbean-British art through the works of over 40 artists with either Caribbean heritage or other connections to those islands. It tackles the themes of identity and family, colonialism and racism, and celebrates the richness of Caribbean culture, reports the New York Times.
  
  
• The Caribbean is mourning the passing of legendary actor, director, humanitarian and ambassador Sir Sidney Poitier, who passed away at the age of 94. Poitier was a native of Cat Island in The Bahamas. (The Caribbean Journal)
  
  
• Ten of the top Caribbean reads released in 2021, according to the Jamaica Gleaner, including How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps her House by Cherie Jones and Pleasantview by Celeste Mohammed.
  

Opportunities

• Call for papers for Shifting the Geography of Reason XX: “Philosophy, Literature, and Liberation,” organized by the Caribbean Philosophical Association. (Repeating Islands)

We welcome comments and critiques on the Just Caribbean Updates. You can see the Updates on our website, as well as receive it directly through the mailing list. Thank you for reading.

Cuba's vaccination success (Jan. 7, 2022)

Cuba has inoculated the majority of its population against Covid-19, using nationally developed vaccines. The country has vaccinated 91 percent of people with at least one dose, and fully vaccinated 83 percent of the population -- of countries with populations of over a million, only the United Arab Emirates has a stronger vaccination record, reports the Guardian. Nearly all of Cuba’s children aged 2 to 18 have now been vaccinated, reports Reuters.

After registering less than 100 cases a day for weeks, infection rates are now rising due to the highly contagious Omicron variant. The Cuban ministry of public health has fast-tracked its booster campaign, and aims to give almost the entire population an extra shot of vaccine this month.

Cuba has begun commercial exports of the three-dose Abdala vaccine to Vietnam and Venezuela. This week, Mexico’s health safety council has approved the use of Cuba’s three-dose Abdala coronavirus vaccine. (Associated Press)

The vaccines, which can be produced affordably and do not require deep-freezing, are seen by international health officials as a potential source for much needed doses in low-income countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia -- but Cuba has not yet published results of its large-scale clinical trials in peer-reviewed journals, nor has it submitted the documents required by the World Health Organization for approval of its vaccines.

Covid-19 Vaccinations in the Caribbean

Guadeloupe anti-vaccine protests continue

The French government declared a “state of health emergency” for Guadeloupe and several other overseas territories this week, citing a “considerable rise” in coronavirus cases due to omicron’s fast spread.” The measure allows the government to issue decrees that temporarily curtail freedoms, including restrictions on movements, trade, entrepreneurship and gatherings. (AFP)

The declaration followed an attack against a hospital director and other medical staff by dozens of anti-vaccination protesters in Guadeloupe, following recent violent demonstrations against vaccines and COVID-19 restrictions, reports the Associated Press. A health workers’ union that organized Tuesday’s demonstration and previous ones that turned violent to protest vaccine requirements and other measures told local media that members are seeking to recover lost wages after being suspended for refusing to become vaccinated as required by law.

The current social unrest in Guadeloupe and Martinique has brought international attention back to the critical issue of chlordecone pollution in these Caribbean islands. This highly toxic insecticide, banned since 1993 throughout France, has been named as one of the key factors behind the social unrest provoked by the Covid-19 situation. Chlordecone has poisoned, to varying degrees, more than 90% of the population of the two islands, according to Santé publique France and Inserm, and has left many residents mistrustful of French authorities' health policies. (AFP)

Democratic Governance and Corruption

• Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley called a snap general election for January 19. The move came just weeks after the country removed Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state and became the world's youngest republic, reports Deutsche Welle.  There are 108 persons vying for seats across the 30 constituencies of Barbados, reports Loop News.
  
  
• Audits of Guyana's government expenditure in 2020 were hampered by the absence of pertinent records. According to an official report presented by officials to the National Assembly, 1328 payment vouchers totaling $2.806 billion were not presented for the 2020 audit. (Kaieteur News)

Migration

• Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne said the government is considering granting an amnesty to undocumented migrants as he urged all people on the islands to work together to rebound economically and socially from the pandemic. (The Caribbean Alert)

Climate Justice and Energy

• Developing countries fought hard for a dedicated loss and damage funding facility, a formal body set up under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to provide new financial support to affected nations. But the final Glasgow climate pact last year made no reference to climate finance to address the rising costs of losses and damages in developing countries. Campaigners say vulnerable nations need at least $300 billion a year to respond to loss and damage in 2030. Developing countries say this recovery finance should be in addition to money set aside for climate mitigation and adaptation, which falls under a global climate finance pledge. (BBC)
  
  
• Guyanese experts say anger over the terms of Exxon’s oil contract and questions over the awarding of the Canje field speak to broader problems with how the sector is being managed, reports CBC News.
  
  
• An alliance of Caribbean organizations have objected to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the Exxon-led Yellowtail project in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, saying that regional states that could potentially be affected were excluded from the process, reports Stabroek News.
  
  
• Jamaica's government reduced the area that will be offered to the Noranda Jamaica Bauxite Partners II for mining close to the Cockpit Country, but critics say significant concerns remain, reports Petchary's Blog.

• Colombia's judiciary suspended a coast guard base construction on the Caribbean island of Providencia based on potential environmental impact, reports El Espectador. (See post for Nov. 19, 2021 on post Hurricane Iota reconstruction on the island.)

Economics, Debt and Finance

• CARICOM countries have been arguing that GDP should not be the only determinant of development status and eligibility for concessionary financing. The size and vulnerability of countries to economic shocks and natural disasters must be considered. (Jamaica Gleaner)

Food Security

• Puerto Rico was once a thriving agricultural hub thanks to its tropical climate, rich biodiversity, and sustainable farming traditions. But now the island imports 85 percent of its food, grocery prices are among the highest in the US and last year two in five people experienced food insecurity, reports the Guardian, which profiles three farms that are part of the agroecology movement that seeks food sovereignty and climate solutions.

Public Security

• The United States charged Mario Antonio Palacios, a retired Colombian commando, with taking part in the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti. He is the first suspect to face U.S. prosecution in the crime, reports the New York Times. (See yesterday's briefs.)
  
  
• Though Palacios is a key suspect in Moïse's assassination the fact that he has not been formally charged may have played a role in Jamaica’s failure to adhere to a request by Haitian authorities to extradite him to Port-au-Prince, reports the Miami Herald.

• The other 19 Colombian mercenaries detained in Haiti in relation to the assassination remain in a legal limbo, in jail without access to lawyers, reports El País. Their families say the mercenaries have been tortured and coerced into confessing.

Development

• Latin American and Caribbean governments face a conundrum: "Their aspirations of leveraging Chinese resources to finance national development and other objectives versus the very real risks that engaging with Chinese entities can bring," argue Leland Lazarus and Evan Ellis in the Diplomat. "A lack of due diligence, corruption, and a disregard for indigenous rights and the environment have characterized many Chinese infrastructure projects in the region."

Gender

• Affordable and accessible childcare services are a pathway out of poverty for some single mothers in the Caribbean. Addressing the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians Regional Conference, UN Women MCO Caribbean Programme Specialist Isiuwa Iyahen said a mixed intervention approach may be needed. (UN Women)

Opportunities

• Jamaicans For Justice (JF) is inviting human rights activists and critical thinkers to lend their voice to its upcoming Justice Report.

• CATAPULT, a COVID-19 relief grant, aims to aid 300 creatives in the Caribbean with grants worth $500 USD. Apply
  

We welcome comments and critiques on the Just Caribbean Updates. You can see the Updates on our website, as well as receive it directly through the mailing list. Thank you for reading.